Foxface
by toldyouamilliontimes
Summary: A little backstory for Foxface, which started off with one of my random thoughts about identical twins. Just a one shot. I hope you like it!


If felt like my world was collapsing in around me, sucking me into the centre of a deep black hole of never ending darkness, fear and hopelessness.

And the reaping hadn't even begun.

"It's going to be okay. This is our last year. The last one. We just have to get through today and then we're free from it forever."

But I was hardly listening. I knew she knew that there was something she didn't know, something I wasn't telling her. I didn't know if that was because we were twins or just because although I had sometimes panicked before reapings, I had never hyperventilated like this. I was shaking and sobbing and rocking backwards and forwards in the corner of the room, hoping that the world would just end. End before it could get any worse.

"Is it Noah? Are you scared he's going to get chosen?" she asked, stroking my hair, trying to calm me down.

I shook my head and continued to sob.

"Has something happened between you two? Has he said something?"

I wailed and buried my face in my hands. "It's all gone wrong. This wasn't meant to happen. We never meant for it to happen..."

She took hold of my hands and pulled them away from my face, forcing me to look into her amber eyes. Exactly the same shade as mine. In fact, we were completely identical. All apart from the fact that she could handle difficult things, whereas I fell apart into a million tiny pieces.

"Livi... what have you done?"

"We didn't mean to. It was an accident." I moaned between sobs.

"You're pregnant." she said, as if she could hardly believe what she was saying. "You're pregnant, aren't you? Oh Livi... how could you be so..." her words drifted off into thin air. She'd never insult me, even though I deserved it.

"Does he know?"

I nodded.

"What did he say?"

"He said that after the reaping... we could get married. He said that he loves me. I swear, Marci, it was an accident. We didn't mean for this to happen."

She took a deep breath. "Okay." she said, and I could tell that behind her eyes she was thinking up a marvellous plan that would mean everything was going to be just fine, just like she usually did when I screwed something up. "Your name is only in there once. So is his. It's our last year, so after today everything will be just as it should be. You'll marry Noah, and have this baby, and everything will be beautiful and magical. Well, as much as it can be in District 5. Don't worry about it. It's just one more day."

I was still terrified, but I trusted her with all that I was. She'd been there for me since the moment I was born, and I knew she'd never do anything to hurt me. Ever.

"The last time." she whispered to me, as she stood next to me in the roped area in front of the Justice building. I could see Noah standing not too far away from us. He was looking at me with a worried expression that described exactly how I felt. I mouthed that I loved him through the silence, and I knew he understood.

I completely zoned out as soon as the District 5 escort from the Capitol started speaking. I couldn't concentrate and I didn't want to. I just wanted it all to be over, and to know that we were safe. All of us. Me. Marci. Noah. Our child. It had to be okay. It had to.

"LIVI FINCH."

My legs started to collapse underneath me. I couldn't breathe. People were turning around to look and I'd lost the ability to even think. I was going to die.

I stumbled forwards, and two peacekeepers almost had to drag me to the platform, where I stood there in dazed silence, too shocked to take anything in. A boy was reaped, and I could see Noah. His eyes filled with tears, and so did mine, but I didn't break down until we had entered the Justice building.

They left me alone in a room, and I collapsed onto the floor, unable to make the pain inside me convert into noise. I just lay there, shaking with the sheer force of the situation that I had no control over. Where were they? Why were they taking so long?

The door burst open, and I was being pulled up off the floor. Her hands moved quickly, brushing down my clothes and wiping the tears from my eyes with a roughness I didn't understand. Her face was stern and cold.

"Don't say a word." she said. Her voice was low, emotionless. "You walk out of here and don't say a word. Understood?"

"What?"

"You are not going into that arena."

"But."

"Livi. Don't fight this. You're having a baby. You're in love. I'm not letting you go. I should have just volunteered... why didn't I just volunteer..."

"No..."

That was why she'd stood right next to me in the reaping. Why I could tell she was not telling me everything. Why she had told me to wear exactly the same clothes as her, and why she had done her hair exactly the same way.

"NO. NO YOU CAN'T. NO." I screamed. Noah put his arms around me and I tried to push him away, but they must have talked about this before they came here. He was silently crying, just holding me and not letting go. Most probably, this is exactly what she had told him to do.

"I won't let you die for me." I said. "You can't go. What if they find out you're not really me?"

"What, you think someone in District 5 is going to tell on us? Like they can tell us apart anyway. The only reason they'll know is because you're still going to marry Noah, and you're still going to have this baby and you're going to be a proper family." she said, looking Noah straight in the eye. "You better look after my sister. Or... well, there's not much I can do if you don't, but somehow I will end you."

"Thank you." he whispered. "I could have never... would have never asked for this much from you."

"I know. Neither of you would, but it's my choice." Marci said. "Just make sure she gets home. Don't make it known that we've switched until after the games are over. There's not much they can do about it then. All they want is a show, anyway. They won't care as long as I die... entertainingly."

"NO. YOU CAN'T. YOU CAN'T DO THIS. I WON'T LET YOU. STOP. LET ME GO. I WON'T LET YOU DIE FOR ME."

"Get her out of here." she said, not able to look at me, tears filling in her own eyes.

Noah did as she said, and I screamed. There was no words. I wanted to be sucked into the centre of the deep black hole again. Anything was better than this.

My sister. My twin. A half of me that could never be replaced.

And so the amber-eyed girl from District 5 competed in the 74th annual Hunger Games. Not many even knew her name. Not many cared. But I did.

I owe her my life.

* * *

JUST A NOTE. 'Cause character names are important to me, so here's why I chose them.

Livi means peace.  
Marcia means brave, but I shortened it to make it fit with Livi.  
Noah means rest/comfort.

These are all meanings I found on the internet, so I apologise if they're wrong. :)


End file.
